Carlsen Crowned World Champion (After Enjoying Some Football & Basketball)

At a very brief closing ceremonyMagnus Carsen was officially crowned World Champion on Monday at the Hyatt Regency hotel in Chennai, India. Carlsen, who won his match against Viswanathan Anand last Friday with a 6.5-3.5 score, received a silver & golden trophy, a golden medal and a cheque by the Honorable Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Ms J Jayalalithaa and FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov.

The ceremony, which took place in the same ballroom as where the match was held, started ten minutes too early, and lasted only about fifteen minutes. Outside hundreds of police officers took care of security, inside it was Anand who was first called on stage. He received a silver plate with 'runner up' in big letters, a silver medal and a symbolic cheque of Rs.6.03 Crores (US $964,028/€ 711,021) although it's more likely that a fixed amount in dollars was agreed with the players.

Anand received his medal from Kirsan Ilyumzhinov...

...and a silver plate by Ms J Jayalalithaa herself

Then it was Carlsen's turn to be greeted on stage, and he first received a gold medal, and then the traditional laurel wreath that was made of olive leaves from the Nilgris mountains in Tamil Nadu. The Norwegian, who will turn 23 on Saturday, also received a silver & golden trophy that was too heavy to be held up by himself! His symbolic cheque was worth Rs.9.90 Crores (US $1,582,732/€ 1,169,883).

There were no speeches, and so the ceremony was a short affair. The 'Tamil Thaivazlthu' was played, as well as the Norwegian anthem and the FIDE anthem. Over 500 people attended, including dozens of media representatives.

The two prizes

After the ceremony it once again became clear how much media attention this match received. Carlsen and his team sat down for a moment in the VIP room right next to the ballroom, and when the Champion stood up and showed his medal, a huge number of photographers and cameramen harrassed him, shouting and screaming.

Yes, it was that crazy

The same happened a bit later, when he gave another special press conference for the local Indian media. At the moment of writing, chess journalists are having a hard time arranging an interview with Carlsen for their magazines!

Showing the trophy to the media...

...in the press room

Below is a brief interview by Susan Polgar done right after the ceremony.

He sure does like sleeping but on Friday night, after he won the title, Magnus Carlsen stayed up until about six in the morning. For many hours he played poker with team members and other friends, and before that there was a party in the lobby of the hotel. That's where this picture was taken:

On Sunday Carlsen did what he likes to do most when there's no chess: playing football and basketball! There were matches between Team Carlsen and Media in both disciplines, held in an indoor pitch in a school. Below are a few pictures of that as well:

Doing some Sunday sports in the Santhom School in Chennai

Magnus wearing a "Michael Jordan" shorts and scoring at both football...

...and basketball (here with Jon Ludvig Hammer, who arrived right after the match)

@Marcokim chessdoggblack is simply stating how WC GM Anand is still an active top ranked player that will most likely succeed again. Not saying that i whole heatedly agree with this "take 2" but i do not believe chessdoggblack is conveying any sort of energy conveying that he may/may not be a "frustrated Indian Engineer, working at WalMart, beating on his wife" (??) It seems as if you may be the one in frustration.

@chessdoggblack, I hope you aren't one of those frustrated Indian Engineers who migrated to the US, ended up working in Walmart, trolling in the internet and beating their wives in the evening... be happy for a change and say something positive about life.

OK! Second take: Anand came close in 3 games and could have tied the score. Ck. those games. Anand over or under attacked? You pick'um. Furthermore, those millions of dollars he won looks good in the last (2) championship bouts, along with book rights, continued media attention, experience play with Carlsen, more awards, still in the top (10), still has fans, has not retired, still remains a force in the chess world, ranks among world's best chess champions with five world chess titles, looks forward to another championship match and another million plus, will only become a stronger chess player and the list goes on. Result: Carlsen has only awaken the "sleeping" Tiger in Anand. Not bad for losing his - only world chess title adventure in (6) outings. Ask yourself in the mirror for what's it worth: What's in my chess head?

What about you let Americans call it football and soccer, and you guys call it American football and football. If we keep that straight, then nobody has to criticize each other on the dialect they use.

WC GM Carlsen represents this modern chess age. Welcome to the great tomb of chess history! Congratulations sir! I look forward towards many more spectacular and instructive games! May you be champion for many years to come!

@skattman: in the sports you and people alike call "football" over 99% of the time ball gets played with hands, so calling it "football" is an oxymoron, and insisting on calling as such is even worse. I'm sure Mr. Doggers is aware of that. "American rugby" should be adopted in place of "American football" as infinitely more accurate, but this shouldn't be really discussed on this chess forum. Football - is football, and it's only one. Nobody is going to refuse your right to call it something else, but in this case it's your problem not to get confused when other people don't use that "soccer" alias.

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